In connection with making military armoured vehicles, it is attempted to reduce the weight of the vehicle in relation to the load carrying ability of the vehicles. Low weight is necessary in order to move the vehicles by air. At the same time, good armouring is required. Conventional armoured vehicles, including road vehicles, are mainly built of armoured steel for protection and carrying ability.
In order to reduce the self-weight simultaneously with maintaining the load carrying ability and ability of bearing armour, respectively, it is required to use materials with great strength compared to the density of the materials. For that purpose, carbon fibres have appeared to have the required material properties. Until now, the production of armoured vehicles has been based on using moulding tools corresponding to those used in the production of glass fibre boats. The production of vehicles containing carbon fibres has thus consisted in initially laying mats of carbon fibre in moulds and subsequently adding a special glue (resin/matrix), after which the materials are cured under vacuum and temperature (possibly autoclave with overpressure). This process is relatively costly due to the required use of expensive tools (including autoclave) and the manual handling. Besides, the complicated moulding tools have given rise to substantial expenses in production. Often there is used a body consisting Of a number of parts which are to be assembled subsequently. Control of the tolerances of the finished product, especially on the side facing away from the moulding tool, is hereby made difficult.
U.S. patent application 2005/0188831 describes a resistant tower for use in connection with a military vehicle, and a method for making such a tower. The tower has walls around which fibres are wrapped. In the patent application is mentioned that they may be carbon fibre threads. The method includes weaving fibres (impregnated with adhesive resin) around a mould. This publication describes use of carbon fibre threads in connection with the making of individual subelements, such as a tower. In connection with constructing armoured vehicles, it will be expedient to enable making the largest possible part of the vehicle in one and the same procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,990 describes a method of the type described in the introduction for making a floating object. In this publication, there is thus a description of method steps where threads wetted in glue are wrapped over a mandrel and subsequently cured. There is no mentioning of finishing treatment after curing for handling the cured structure with regard adaptation to specific applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,662 describes a method of the type described in the introduction. This document describes a method in which a railway coach is manufactured. The document mentions that a curing is effected and that the mandrel is supplied with a front and rear end in form of closure elements.
This document does not disclose specific form for the cut-off in order to establish the possibility of cut-offs for specific purposes. Moreover, there is no disclosure of a method for making a vehicle which is different from the railway coach.
Especially there is no mentioning of specific methods or features in a method which is necessary for providing a vehicle suitable for military purposes.